The Law Office of Aaron Charles de la Garza

Counselor and Attorney at Law

Austin, Texas

• The Department of Labor's controversial revised overtime regulations went into effect on Monday, August 23, 2004.  These regulations alter existing employee overtime eligibility and add a few significant protections for employers seeking to avoid liability for improper deductions from salaried employees.  For a summary, see www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/main.htm

•  On August 25, 2004, the Department of Labor announced that it had reached a $1.9 million dollar settlement with a contractor for Target Corporation.  The contractor had failed to pay overtime to its employees.  See http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2760143

• On August 25, 2004, Home Depot agreed to pay $5.5 million in settlement of discrimination and retaliation claims brought by workers in its Colorado stores.  See http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=6073120

• August 19, 2004 -- Austin's unemployment rate drops to 4.9%.  See http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2004/08/16/daily43.html

• USERRA, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act, protects the rights of reservists in the nation's armed services.  USERRA includes provisions protecting the right of a reservist to return to his or her previous employment, and includes strong anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation provisions. Given our nation's military commitments, USERRA is poised to become one of the most common employment law claims.  To read more about USERRA, see http://www.dol.gov/vets/welcome.html#userra